A former Special Assistant to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State on Electoral Matters, Barrister Mfon Udeme has been shot.
Barrister Udeme who is a staunch supporter of Senator Godswill Akpabio resigned his appointment last month and defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) was shot in the early hours of Thursday.
The attack may not be unconnected with the recent revelations by the forner aide published in major national newspapers that over 200 aides of Governor Emmanuel were set to desert him in the build up to the governorship election in 2019.
He was also quoted as saying that as a former Special Assistant to the Governor on Electoral Matters he had known that Governor Udom Emmanuel had no electoral value.
Barrister Udeme, who resigned last month as the Governor’s Special Assistant on Electoral Matters, dropped the hint in a press conference on Wednesday in Uyo and was shot on Thursday.
Governor Emmanuel has suffered mass resignations from his government since last year with hardly any month passing without one or two aides angrily quitting his government.
Udeme, during the chat, said: “within the next few months, Udom’s Government House would be a sort of ghost town as over 80% of his aides have all perfected plans to abandon Udom’s administration.”
Udeme, a former Chairman of Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area. blamed the mass exit on “the Governor’s maltreatment of the aides and blatant show of unserious attitude towards matters of genuine development of the people of the state.”
He said most of the remaining aides have decided to go after suffering in silence for more than three years.
He said having done a thorough assessment of the political situation in the state as the Governor’s Special Assistant on Electoral Matters, he has found out that Governor Emmanuel lacked the electoral value needed to win a second term.
Udeme advised Governor Emmanuel to concentrate on finishing his term and forget about wasting time on campaign for second term to avoid a disgraceful defeat at the polls by the All Progressives Congress (APC), which has overwhelmed the PDP in the state.
According to him, “Obong Nsima Ekere’s nomination as the APC Governorship Candidate, the game is up for Udom and the beginning of the end of Udom’s administration is as sure as the rising sun because majority of core politicians like us who took the pains to get Udom elected have all moved our support to Nsima and the APC.”
Barrister Mfon Udeme has become the latest victim of attack launched against members of the APC in Akwa Ibom State.
It would be recalled that unknown gunmen had launched an attack on the country home of Senator Godswill Akpabio shortly after his defection to APC.
Similarly, penultimate week unknown gunmen had fired some bullets into the bedroom of the governorship candidate of the APC in Akwa Ibom State, Obong Nsima Ekere. Occupants of the house narrowly escaped being hit.
Another fierce critic of the Governor and a former Special Assistant to the then Governor Akpabio on diaspora matters, Mr Clement Ikpatt had also found bullets fired into his bedroom. All the incidents had been reported to security agencies in the State.
Analysts have blamed the attack on growing incident of intolerance for the opposition APC in the State as agents of the Akwa Ibom State government have launched attacks on campaign billboards of the APC candidates in the state and threatening them not to further erect any campaign materials in the state .
